Destination Bangalore!

Hi ya folks!
Back from a highly rejuvenating, extremely funtastic trip to Bangalore this weekend. It was extra special because it was the first time we were driving our new car on the highway and I must say it behaved very very well! :-)
So we leave home early morning on Friday, our drive was quick, thanks to the lovely toll roads and the elevated highway in Bangalore. We reach Bangy around 11ish and change to head out to lunch with one of K's MBA friends. We went to this place called "I & Monkey", which had a nice ambience but the lesser I talk about the food, the better. Best part about Bangalore is of course you get beer/alcohol in abundance :P
"V" was a real fun person, extremely chatty and nice to hang out with. Then K takes me on a nice, super long walk around town... he showed me his college, the places and pubs he used to hang out in, talks endlessly.. Yep, that's right, the boy can talk & talk & talk... He was so thrilled to relive his old memories in Bangalore. I'm surprised the boy didn't settle there. We then head to Brigade Road, I wanna shop but decide to hold it off until the next day. By which time, we were ready to head to "Toit", which is this cute little brew pub on Indranagar. They brew their beer in house, K was in seventh heaven, it seemed :) The music was good, overall very nice place to chill out.. would have been even better had there been a bigger gang, of course.
We call it an early night, thanks to us waking up at 4am and not resting all day.
DAY 2: We wake up early, head to the restaurant for a nice Udipi style breakfast, come back, watch tv, relax and K promptly falls asleep! We had promised to meet one of my FIL's bestest friends for lunch at the Army club. So we again start walking(we really loved the walks, especially at nights). I sneak into a handicrafts store and start buying up the place, K heads to a book store and we are at peace without each other for a bit. After about an hour,we head to the Club. Nice looking one, that too. We meet JP uncle, have a nice time chatting. And then again do a quick tour of the city... K shows me the house where his folks used to live, the Madras Sappers mess(that's the FIL's army regiment), the hostel where my beloved K stayed(!), the army ground etc etc etc. Then the much needed retail therapy... Commercial Street. Lol. I was on my own for the most part and had a blast. Shopped. Shopped and Shopped! Can never tire from it.
We then head back, again change and decide that we want to have a late nighter.. So we first go to Hard Rock - chill out and enjoy the music. And then go to this place recommended by his friend, V called the Skyee Bar in UB City. Sooper nice place.. I loved the music! Very romantic indeed :) We party our asses off, and have a coffee and then troop in late. Phew. We've had a lonnggg day indeed. We crash.
Day 3: And wake up early again, and decide to have "Topi Dosa", which my MIL said I must try. Was cute and tasty of course. By this time, its hit me that it was time to head back :-( We pack, we start our drive back, we talk about our lovely weekend throughout. Good times indeed! But I cheer up because I'm going back to Bangalore in May for K's cousin's wedding. So I'm not too disappointed.
Overall, SUPERB TRIP! :-) 

Introducing the latest member of our family....

There's been quite a bit of action this past week/weekend. First and foremost, I have a very important person I'd like you all to meet. We brought it(still unsure if it's a "he" or a "she") home on Saturday night. Doesn't it present such a pretty picture? Welcome home sweetie!!  I hope you enjoy being with us as much as we love being with you! Cheers to us! :-)

Of course this did mean we had to leave the good ol' gypsy back at the service station temporarily and K and I missed him dearly. Sweets, just because we left you back, doesn't mean we love you any lesser. You have been and will always be a very important part of our lives! I miss u already, waiting for K's next offroad.
So now that we have a new car, step two is to of course plan a road trip!! And Friday, the 23rd being a holiday, we have decided to head straight to Bangalore for the long weekend. Wohoo. I'm super excited, I haven't seen Bangy in forever.. Waiting to just chill out and indulge in some much needed retail therapy.
On another note, I'm just so so glad that dear Sachin made history by becoming the first cricketer in the world to hit 100 centuries!! What an achievement. Seriously! Congratulations Little Master, u are indeed the God of cricket. Super proud of you.. Keep going this way, no matter what the rest of the world says!!! :-) I would also like to take this opportunity and wish all the March bday babies -- Tanu, Gautam, Maxi Chitti, Mala, Krish & Ganesh a very happy birthday!! Alright people, I'm off now. Catch ya'll later. Ciao!

What am reading..

The Immortals of Meluha, which is Book 1 in this Shiva Trilogy, by Amish Tripathi.. Not a very big fan of mythology/religion etc but this one was very engrossing and I finished the book in a day much to my husband's annoyance! :P  Eagerly waiting to lay my hands on the 2nd and 3rd ones! Miss. M are you listening? :-) 

Road trip update!

K and I went on another road trip end of Feb - this time to Madurai/Rameshwaram/Dhanushkodi. Tamil Nadu had dream like roads.. no kidding!! We reached Madurai well before our expected time of arrival... and crashed for a bit. First stop in the evening was of course the Meenakshi Temple. I don't really have words to describe how beautiful this temple was(is). The architecture was brilliant. It was calm, peaceful and serene. The lights on all 4 towers were lit up and made a pretty picture. We revisited the temple next day early morning, this time we actually prayed ;-) Breakfast was at our very own Murugan Idli Kadai, K says this was the original.. so there's no way am leaving Madurai without going there! It did live upto its expectations.. great stuff! We then drove to Rameshwaram which took us about 3 hours.. you know somehow I've always thought that TN was not too green. You will be surprised.. the drive was so pretty, with green fields all around.. Sigh. Made a quick dash in to the Rameshwaram temple, didn't do the dip in the holy water, we decided we would come back later in our lives to cleanse ourselves :P
Then the drive to Dhanushkodi began.. Man this is one awesome scenic drive. We cross the Pamban bridge, and after a point all you can see is blue water on both sides... Picture perfect!!! Supposedly the water gets really rough on one side, but I guess it was a low tide that day so both sides were calm. Once we reached Dhanushkodi, K said he would drive me along the coast on the sand. Wowie. That was one exciting ride, the offroading began and went on and on and on.... until we reached a point which was literally No Man's Land! Just a narrow strip of land, and clear blue water on both sides.... we played in the beach(es) and had fun. We waited and waited for one thing though.. and here it was finally...

The sunset!! One of the most beautiful ones I've ever seen... Totally worth all that time we waited... Good job, K! :-)
We then started our drive back to Madurai, was quite an adventure.. we reached quite late that night and we were super tired. Next day was all about doing the usual touristy stuff.. went to the Madurai Palace which was again beautiful!

I know, so pretty na? Well well, we had a good time, Saturday night we went to the Taj Madurai which is on a slight hilly terrain.. we could see the entire city from the lawn... we drank(thats the purpose u see!) and ate and chilled out in general. Woke up late the next day and we started our drive back to Chennai. Boo. Me thinks road trips must be never ending. They are so much fun! Well here are a few more snaps I could steal from K's album.. I must say they don't do full justice to the actual picture it presents.. but nevertheless, good job K. U and your Canon are a super combo! :-)